It was his turn to do the day’s maintenance. This was not any ordinary maintenance, however. This particular man was an astronaut aboard the International Space Station. And maintenance meant an EVA (Extra-Vehicular Activity). His second of the week and something he was looking forward to. Like every other time…
Jim decided he was going to do it. He signed up and told his officemates that this year he would join them in Kelowna’s Across the Lake Swim. Mary immediately raised an eyebrow. “But Jim,” she said, “I thought you couldn’t swim.” Jim didn’t deny it. But with several months…
The odds weren't just in their favour—the bookmakers called it "unfair". Before the tournament even began, the pundits and analysts said it would be a coronation rather than a competition. One headline even boasted, "Is there any point in the other teams even showing up?" This team had 3 future…
They had waited years for it. The coastline was infamous—jagged rocks just beneath the surface, unpredictable currents, ships torn open in storms or dashed to pieces on clear nights when the tide betrayed them. Everyone knew the stretch of water. Everyone feared it. So when construction finally began, it felt…
I fancy myself something of a guitarist, and as such I have often found myself turning the radio up when an epic solo hits. All Along the Watchtower by Jimi Hendrix? Turn it up! Free Bird by Lynyrd Skynyrd? Turn it up! Hotel California? Oh yeah. turn it up! But,…
In 2005, a badly damaged painting appeared at a small auction in New Orleans. It was darkened by years of grime. Cracked. Covered over with heavy-handed touch-ups from previous restorations. To most people, it looked tired and unimpressive—certainly not special. Experts believed it was just a copy of a much…
“Don’t stay out past dark or the Demon of the Jungle will get you!” A mother called after her children as they ran barefoot down a dirt path in a small Philippine village, the sun already slipping behind the trees. The air was thick and warm, heavy with the smell…
The summer I turned 13, I got talked into pulling an all-nighter—which completely wrecked my sleep schedule for weeks. The silver lining? Late-night TV in the ’90s had so many great old shows. That’s where I discovered classics like Car 54 Where Are You?, Taxi, and The Twilight Zone. One…
I want to tell you the story of a man named Barry. Barry was an engineer in Los Angeles. Then he lost his job. Then his home. The rest of his worldly possessions followed shortly thereafter. Drugs became an escape, and then an addiction—a chain that bound him to this…
In the fall of 1959, two men sat across a chessboard. One was Vasily Smyslov, former World Champion—calm, precise, a technical master. The other was Mikhail Tal, a 22-year-old Latvian genius nicknamed The Magician, famous for moves that left onlookers speechless. Smyslov—ever the pragmatist—opened with the well-worn Caro–Kann Defence. Tal…
I want to begin with the story of Anastasia. She was born to an unremarkable family in the Czech Republic. Eastern Europe has a proud heritage of musical excellence, and her mother—Nadia—had played a little violin as a girl. So, on Anastasia’s eighth birthday, she handed her daughter a small…
There’s an old story about a small kingdom perched high on a mountain—though “mountain” may be generous. It was really a hill, just high enough to lift its people above the valley below. From that height they could see every road and river that ran through the farmland spread beneath…